Regal Rejects Plan For Quicker VOD Release, Calls It Unhealthy

With Paramount Pictures and AMC Theaters looking to begin experimenting with a much shorter than usual window between theatrical and VOD releases, there’s been a surprising groundswell of support for the idea that could be seen as a threat to theatrical releasing as we know it. Up until this moment, there have been no real opponents to have spoken out against this somewhat revolutionary idea. But, as with any attempt at changing the way things are done, a challenger has appeared in the form of the competition. In this case, that competitor is none other than major theater chain Regal Cinemas.

The Hollywood Reporter picked up on some remarks made by Regal’s CEO, Amy Miles, who has finally outed herself as a detractor to the fairly recent business model that’s set to kick in with Paramount’s future theatrical releases of Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension and Scout’s Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse. More specifically, Miles summed up the crux of her argument as follows:

“…the parameters of the current proposal, both economic and structural, simply do not make sense for us given the potential risks to the long term health of our business. As has been the case historically, we will utilize our screens to exhibit films distributed using a traditional distribution model that respects the existing theatrical window.”

It’s easy to see why Regal Cinemas would be afraid of a deal that would not only shorten their earning potential from theatrical exhibitions, but also offer them a smaller piece of the money making pie. With ticket prices going up, and audiences failing to turn out as willingly as they used to for a night at the movies, movie theaters are finding it difficult enough to keep people walking through the doors in the current, traditional model. To add a shortened theatrical window, followed by a video on demand distribution that wouldn’t offer multiple admission opportunities for the same film, is kind of insulting to the exhibitors if you think about it a certain way.